With summers around, the need for a cool drink is always there. What’s better than a drink that is cool, refreshing, and healthy at the same time?
In this article, we will be comparing two beverage brands, so you may get an idea of which one to pick on a hot summer day.
Contents
History of Naked and Odwalla
Naked Juice:
The company came into existence in 1983 in Santa Monica, California, by Jimmy Rosenberg.
He began his business on a small scale, producing juices at home and selling them in person on a beach.
As a result of his initial popularity, his juices soon became available at a local grocery store.
Distribution soon expanded, covering the whole San Diego region.
In 2000, Naked juices were sold to a private-equity firm.
In 2006, PepsiCo purchased this brand from a private company. It was after this purchase that the sales of Naked skyrocketed and had a sale of $150 million annually.
Today, Naked juice is available in all 50 states of America, as well as in Canada and the UK.
Odwalla:
Odwalla was founded in 1980 in Santa Cruz, California, by three jazz musicians.
They began this brand on a small scale by squeezing orange juice in their shed and selling it to local restaurants.
After five years of growth, the company was initialized in 1985 and began selling its products in San Francisco as well.
Odwalla went public in 1993 and bought two other companies in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado.
By 1996, it was one of the largest fresh-juice companies in America, selling its products in seven states of America and parts of Canada.
In 2001, Odwalla was purchased by Coca-Cola for $15.25 a share.
Odwalla benefited from this partnership as they were able to become more stable and were able to expand into new markets because of Coca-Cola’s well-established distribution networks.
Are Odwalla Drinks Healthy?
Odwalla drinks are perfectly safe to drink, but calling them healthy contains a bit of doubt.
Odwalla is a perfect example of your local juicer turning into a multi-millionaire story.
At the start of its existence, Odwalla sold fresh, unpasteurized juices straight out of its blender.
Even today, the ingredients of Odwalla products are not a paragraph long.
Most of the products have just one ingredient listed, or at most ten, with a majority of them being derived from nature.
However, after their E.coli fiasco in 1996, the company was no longer able to sell unpasteurized juices.
They introduced flash pasteurization which may kill some of the enzymes and nutrients present inside the juice.
With the introduction of new products, Odwalla began adding sugar to some of them.
They use organic evaporated cane sugar, which is a less processed sweetener.
Even though not all products contain sugar, those that do, contain quite a lot.
For instance, the sugar in their lemonade is equal to adding 12 teaspoons in a single glass.
Many people argue that these products barely qualify to consider them as healthy.
While Odwalla’s products are a comparatively good beverage choice, they certainly are not always beneficial. As the old saying goes, “not everything natural is good for you.”
Does Naked Juice Have Real Fruit?
Some of the products of Naked juice may contain juice from natural fruit, but some may not.
For example, the first ingredient in their pomegranate juice is “pomegranate juice from concentrate.”
However, the fruit is not the real deal here.
It’s the amount of sugar that’s in these juices which made Pepsico, their parent company, to be sued.
A bottle of Naked juice contains 20 times more sugar than a regular can of Pepsi soda.
However, the sugar in the juice is natural fructose and not high fructose corn syrup as in soda.
Nevertheless, when consuming sugar in such high doses, where the sugar is coming from doesn’t matter to your body.
Both forms of sugar will be turned into glucose, which will eventually be metabolized into triglycerides or cholesterol.
From 2007-to 2013, Naked juice was falsely advertised as being completely natural.
However, apart from the added fruits, nothing was natural.
So, in conclusion, Naked Juice is not the one to be hyped up about.
It may serve to be a good drink on a hot day, but definitely not a substitute for a healthy one.
Which Is Better?
Naked Juice may appear to be a better choice out of these two. Unlike Odwalla, they haven’t sold juice made up of rotten fruits for their corporate greed.
Naked Juice also seems to contain more fruit juice as they have a thicker consistency.
However, to be honest, the amount of sugar they both carry serves to be a calorie-filled obesity contributor.
Real juice fans are better off getting their juices from their neighborhood juice bar.
Not only can they keep an eye on how much sugar goes inside the juice, but the chances are that their local juicer needs more business than these companies do.
